Fridae

Joshua Macabe Brown who was found guilty of the rape and first-degree murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for the rape charge, according to CBS News report. A judge will determine the sentence for the murder charge on March 30.

In November 1999, the police found the boy bound, drugged, and near death in Brown's home shared with his 39-year-old partner, Davis Don Carpenter. Carpenter faces a May 7 trial on rape and capital murder charges.

The boy who reportedly knows the couple well was suffocated after being sodomised repeatedly over several hours.

In police interviews, Brown claimed that the boy was a willing participant but failed to explain why when evidence showed that he went to a store late at night to get duct tape.

The eight-woman, four-man jury was represented with a bloody pillow, duct tape and underwear that was supposedly stuffed into Jesse's mouth during the September 26, 1999, sexual assault that led to his death.

The police seized more than 160 pieces of evidence, including a diagram that used stick figures to show how to bind a child.

Brown admitted to binding, gagging the boy and raping him with a variety of objects.

"This isn't a car accident, folks. This is the binding, gagging, and raping of a 13-year-old boy," said Prosecutor Bob Balfe said when the defence claimed that Brown didn't "knowingly cause his death".

Conservative organizations have trumpeted the case as a necessary antidote to what they consider to be pro-gay coverage in the media and demanded that the (American) national media devote as much attention to it as they did to the murder of Matthew Shepard.

However, Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for media watchdog group Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said the attempt to turn Jesse Dirkhising into the anti-gay front's Matthew Shepard is misguided.

"Matthew Shepard's death was a wake-up call to the media and the country about hate crimes that take place every day� Jesse's death should be an opportunity to bring to light another issue that has never seen enough visibility: Physical and sexual abuse of children."

She sees the outcry from the conservatives as evidence of a double standard as they do not demand for more attention for other cases when abuse is a daily occurrence for millions of children.